Create Skills for Echo Devices With a Screen

Echo devices with a screen, such as Echo Show and Echo Spot, allow developers to create skills for Alexa that use both screen and voice interaction. The screen displays and interactions are created with the use of templates. In this tutorial, we will extend the voice response wit ha graphical rich text response, that will be displayed when the user accesses the application from an Alexa device with a screen.

Create a conversational app

A Conversation.one application represents your conversational interface through Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Facebook Messenger bot. To create an app:

If you don’t already have a Conversation.one account, sign up. If you have an account, log in.

Click on Create New App in the navigation. If it’s your first application, you will be redirected to the Create New App wizard automatically.

Select your industry and enter your company name. For the purpose of this tutorial, select “Other” for the industry. Click Next to continue.

Enter “Test Display” as your company name. Click Next to continue.

Select the devices you want to support with your app. For this demo select Amazon Alexa. Click Next to continue.

Select the pre-made question “Opening Hours”.

Click “Customize”

Test your new bot

To test your bot, enter in the simulator, the text:

“What are your opening hours”

The bot will respond using the default answer:

“We are open every weekday, between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM”

Enable support for Amazon Alexa display

Click “Settings”

Select “Staging”

Select “Alexa”

Enable “Render Template”

Click “Save”

Click “Edit App”

Add graphical response

We will add a code response, that will check if the user has a graphical display, and will return a graphical response, that will be presented to users using an Echo device with a display.